Tuesday Traditions

I bought a new book!  Read that with a whole bunch of sarcasm because I'm always buying books.  

Anyway, this one is called Recipe of the Week: Ice Cream: 52 Easy Recipes for Year-Round Frozen Treats published by John Wiley and Sons.  One ice cream recipe per week?  Sounds like a good idea to me. It's written by Sally Sampson and ol' Sally's recipe for week one is as basic as it gets: Sweet Cream.  

I am embarrassed to say that not only had I not heard of this, the concept had never even occurred to me.  Sweet Cream is basically flavorless ice cream and therefore the basis of all ice cream.  This is where it starts kids.  This is the genesis.  And so it is a perfect place to start a new series, Tuesday Traditions.  Or Traditional Tuesdays.  Or Tuesdays are for Tradition.  I dunno yet.  You tell me.

Anywho, I am looking to hone my skills at the beginning and every Tuesday, I'm going to do just that.  We're talking the basics - strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla, et al.  It's my nature for me to jump in with the exotic stuff but without learning to crawl, you'll be an awfully wobbly walker.   So, let's learn to crawl, shall we?

Sally Sampson's Sweet Cream

1 1/2 c whole milk

1 1/2 c heavy cream

1/4 c sugar syrup 

Place the milk, cream, and sugar syrup in a bowl and whisk well.  Transfer to an ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer's instructions.  

Sugar Syrup 

Place 1 c white sugar and 1 c water in a small saucepan and cook, over medium high heat, until the sugar has completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool, cover and refrigerate up to 1 month.

Sally suggests thowing in broken cookies or cake or candies during the last few minutes of churning.  Or, use as a substitute for whipped cream when serving with cake.  Well, ladida!

Sweet Cream with Fresh Blueberries

An open letter to Lola's on Ice

Dear Lola's on Ice,

That dream colored truck
And those crazy wild flavors
Oh, how it pains me
That we are not neighbors

Since you guys are in London
And I’m in New York
I’ll just fawn over your website
Like a big ice cream dork

That pineapple and chili sorbet
Sounds perfect in every way.

Is the cassis and beet
Both savory and sweet?

Hokey Pokey Ice Cream?
Dude, I don’t even know what that means!

But I know that I would try it...

Yes, I'd try it
I’d sample each and every one
So next time I’m in the UK
It’s to your lovely truck I shall run

Kisses,

Frozen Brooklyn

More flavors from Lola's on Ice and the recipe book, which is available from amazon.co.uk.

• Bourbon vanilla ice cream with summer fruit, Raspberry sauce or Pedro Ximenez sherry
• Red summer fruit ice cream
• Valhrona chocolate sorbet with a brandy snap
• Pina colada' - coconut and white rum sorbet with pineapple on a stick
• Burnt orange caramel ice cream
• Eton Mess ice cream
• Raspberry sorbet
• Affogato al caffé
• Fresh mint ice cream with a chocolate brownie
• Pineapple and chilli sorbet
• Horseradish ice cream
• Hokey pokey ice cream
• Gin and tonic sorbet
• Melon and ginger sorbet
• Lemongrass ice cream
• Memphis Belle (apricots, Southern Comfort and Oloroso sherry)
• Banana toffee ice cream
• 'Black Forest Gateau' Sundae
• Star Anise and Saffron Ice Cream
• "Turkish Delight" (Rose petal and Lemon Verbena Ice Cream)
• Beetroot and Cassis Sorbet
• Peach Melba

Drink, Dance, Kiss - Champagne Sorbet

Generally speaking, I am not one for mixing booze with icy, frozen goodness.  I like cocktails and I like iced treats but I've never felt the need to combine the two.  However, I had to make a grand exception when I saw this sign outside of the 205 Club in the Lower East Side. 

I was so moved by the simple sentiment: drink, dance, kiss.  A good bit of the New York experience is about the drink, dance, kiss, no?  Unless you're an alcoholic.  Then it's maybe more like drink, drink, drink, dance, drink, kiss, black out, come to, wonder "Who's house is this?" followed by shame, shock, headache, and more drink.  But alas, I digress.  When I saw this sign I was charmed to the bone and had to respond with a sparkling concoction.  

Champagne Sorbet - from Ices by Sunil Vijayakar:

1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

2 1/2 cups Champagne

1/2 cup peach juice

Place the sugar in a saucepan with 1/2 cup water and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring to a boil and remove from the heat.  Allow to cool.

Add the Champagne and peach juice to the sugar syrup and churn in an ice cream maker until just thick enough to scoop.  Serve immediately.

Et voila, the end result as seen from my fire escape. 

For more sorbets, granitas, and sherbets, pick up a copy of this book.

  Until next time - kiss, kiss, kiss!

If Books Could Chill: Pops!

I thought I was so clever last time I went to Ikea, but then again, Ikea always makes me feel clever. I go around pushing that jumbo shopping cart picking up not just a table, but a Forsby table. Dishes are called Ljuvlig and beds are Noresund. After twenty minutes, I'm like, "Ja, I caan toaatally speak Sveeedish now!"

On the way to the checkout I spied some molds for making ice pops. Score! I mean, Skoar! I went home and got busy making lemon-mint syrup. The syrup turned out A-okay and while I was filling up the freezer molds I nearly collapsed under the weight of my brilliance. "I'm going to suspend whole pieces of mint in these. No one has EVER done THAT before. Ja, ja, ja I'm the cleverist girl in Brooklyn!" Two days later, I was at a bookstore and saw this -

Okay, so I'm not that clever or Swedish but I am industious and terribly excited. Ms. Krystina Castella has put all things delectable in an ice lolly from sour plums to rum. I will be experimenting with this book often. Stay tuned...